U.S. military Twitter, YouTube accounts apparently hacked by ISIS

Supporters of the extremist group known as ISIS or the Islamic State apparently took over the Twitter and YouTube accounts on Monday of the U.S. Central Command, a top military security unit.

Zach Miners
January 12, 2015

IDG News Service

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Supporters of the extremist group known as ISIS or the Islamic State apparently took over the Twitter and YouTube accounts on Monday of the U.S. Central Command, a top military security unit.

Phone numbers of top military officers and what the hackers said were classified documents were posted on Centcom's Twitter feed, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The Twitter feed for Centcom, which is responsible for U.S. security interests in 20 nations stretching through the Arabian Gulf region into Central Asia, has since been suspended.

At least two videos uploaded to the unit's YouTube account on Monday appeared related to ISIS. One had the title, "Flames of War ISIS Video." Those videos have also been taken down.

"We are aware of the issue and are looking into it," a Centcom spokesman told IDG News Service.

"We can confirm that the Centcom Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised earlier today," Centcom later said in an official statement. "We are taking appropriate measures to address the matter." The unit declined to comment further.

Neither Twitter nor YouTube immediately responded to comment.

The incident came just as President Obama prepared to announce new cybersecurity measures.